Things at Brummitt this week were very exciting
for the students. It was a short week filled with fantastic surprises. I loved
seeing all the kids coming and going, talking about all the cool surprises they
were getting in their classes.
I decided to surprise all the students with
I-Pads on Wednesday, but I am bad at keeping surprises a secret and most the
kids already knew from reading the blog and such.
They still were all really happy with that. I
also gave all the students on Tuesday pencils or erasers. I also had my
students dance with Gonoodle.com. I heard that some classes had no homework and
others had extra free time. All the students were so grateful for these gifts
from the teachers and staff.
This week we also took time
in every class to talk about Thanksgiving. I wanted the students to remember to
be thankful for all we have and to take the time to thank the people around
them for everything they do.
To celebrate Thanksgiving
here are a few websites that discuss the meaning of Thanksgiving and the
history behind the first Thanksgiving:
Kids.nationalgeographic.com
http://www.scholastic.com/
This week we continued learning about our Life Skills with Grateful and Effort. Mr.
Cammarata talked about effort on Monday because all the students need to
remember to put in the extra effort this week with so much going on.
They need to keep the effort up with a short
week even if we are temped not to. I decided grateful was very important during
this holiday season. I want the students to remember to be grateful for all
they have in their lives and for all that everyone does to help them succeed.
I wanted to remind them how important it is to
be grateful and that they need to take the time during the Thanksgiving break
to tell those people how much they care and how much they appreciate them.
I hope they also think of
the people here at school that do so much for them and really want them to do
their best. I also want them to be grateful for their great classmates and
friends at school.
Idiom of the Week
An Idiom
is an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual
meanings of its constituent elements.This week’s was …. They are going bananas! The students could stop laughing at the
picture because they all wanted to ride in that banana car.
We talked about where they might hear this idiom
and if they ever have before. They all knew right away what it meant and they
have all heard it in some way at school through the years.
I didn’t have anyone turn
anything in but they all thought about how they could design one. I think this
idiom was a success because it was really funny and gave the students a chance
to share great stories. The hint for next week: one word is another word for
junkyard and feeling like one.
Language Arts
First Grade:
This week we continued to work on a poem by
Richard Wilbur called The Disappearing Alphabet. We
reviewed the first part we read earlier and then finished the poem. I
introduced a reading analyzer and we went over each part so they could fill it
out over this story.
The students had some trouble at first,
expressing their thoughts and feelings but I understand that, since it was their
first time using a reading analyzer. I want them to be more comfortable with
filling it out since we will complete analyzers throughout the year. By the end
they were doing much better and I am sure next time they will do great. We then
had a discussion about letters and words and their importance and how authors
love the written word. I also told them the story about Lewis Carrol.
Lewis Carroll, author
of Alice in Wonderland, is said to have invented this game on Christmas Day in
1877 for two little girls who ‘found nothing to do’. Like Wilbur, Lewis Carroll
also loved words.
He first called the
game “Word Links” and then referred to it as “Doublets”. “Doublets” became a
big hit in London and it has been a fun word play game ever since. These
puzzles are now often called “Word Ladders”.This story helped me
explain word ladders. I gave them the directions and we worked on them.
They were slow to start but
once they understood that the words in between had to be real words it helped a
lot. We worked on them and we got through all we had. Next week we continue to
work on letters and words and creating words out of other words with some fun
activities.
Second Grade:
This week we continued with our novel The
Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. Monday I had
almost all my students out on their field trip so we just had a short
discussion on the story so far and then decided to work on some holiday cheer
by writing a letter to the troops. These are Christmas notes the students will
write sending thanks and holiday cheer to soldiers overseas and on bases
stationed all over the world.
On Tuesday since everyone
was back we got to work on the next journal entries. We also took some time to
review the parts of speech and completed a worksheet with sentences from the
book and labeled which part of speech it is. Next week we will continue our
journey with Edward to see what happens next. The students will also write more
in their journals on their feelings and thoughts about the book.
Third Grade:
This week we moved on to a different genre: tall
tales. We had a discussion on what a tall tale is and found out that some
students knew a few tall tales of their own. I then read the story of Johnny
Appleseed. We discussed how Johnny Appleseed is a very famous tall tale because
there are so many differing versions of his story.
We also watched a video about Johnny Appleseed
and compared the two stories. A tale
tale is an extravagant, fanciful or greatly exaggerated story. Usually
focuses on the achievements of the ultimate hero.This is just one of
many descriptions of tall tales.
On Tuesday the students finished the discussion
on Johnny Appleseed and then broke into pairs. They were supposed to read a
tall tale but I decided to give them their surprise for the week and I had the
I-Pads ready to go.
The students were given the opportunity to look
for tall tales online to see if they could find any that sounded more
interesting than the ones I had found.
It was cool to see them work together to come up with some ideas of tall tales that might work and this also gave them a chance to learn about researching a subject for class.
I
think that had an excellent adventure looking through the web trying to find
better tall tales that they really were interested in reading. Next week they
will read the one they chose and fill out a retelling map about it for
discussion.
Fourth Grade:
This week we started the research for the
biography projects. There were some students out all week and some students out
one day. I went over the requirements with students again to see if they had
any questions. I answered all the questions that we have so far. They got the
laptops and went to work. I have included a new page on the blog for the 4th
grade bios. You will see it at the top right of the website. If you hit the
link to the page there are other helpful links to websites for the students to
use in their research. I am trying to find sites
that will help each student with their person. I have also included other sites
we will be using.
Each student will get information on how they can log into complete their projects next week. This will allow them to work at school and home with each step and not lose any of their documents. I will go over all of it next week. Listed below is some of the information I gave the students for the project:
People Who Made a
Difference Instructions
Step One:
All students are complete with this step because they have picked a person to
research
Step Two: For this project,
you are required to research one person using a full-length biography, one or
more primary sources (book), and two
or more secondary sources (websites).
Use the Internet and library to determine whether sufficient information is
available for each person. Most students have found a great book
to use and most have another book to use too.
Step Three: Read the biography and
collect information about the person. Complete the Biography Summary and
submit. Create a works cited to acknowledge sources you are using.
Step Four: Synthesize information to list at least ten of the most significant events in
the person’s life.
Step Five: Create a timeline of the famous person’s life.
Step Six: Consider change in the person’s life and how he/she made a
difference. Write a monologue including events, changes, and differences made
in regard to his/her life.
Step Seven: Create a Power Point slide that includes the person’s name,
a photo, years lived, and contributions. (The students will be
learning how to use Prezi so they will be able to use those instead of power
point)
Step Eight: Memorize your monologue and dress as your character. You
are now ready for the People Who Made a Difference presentation.
Timeline Criteria
-Timeline includes entire life of person with dates measured at appropriate
intervals.
-Timeline includes ten or more important events of the person’s life.
-Timeline includes two or more pictures of the person.
-Timeline is neat and legible.
-At least four sources are properly cited.
Monologue Criteria
-Monologue describes events in the person’s life with detail and clarity.
-Monologue includes insight to changes in the person’s life.
-Monologue explores how the person made a difference.
-Speaker confidently presents monologue using good eye contact, posture,
and voice.
-Speaker engages audience with appropriate words, facial expressions, and
gestures.
-The presentation is supported with appropriate costume and props
Math
This week was a little different. Because of
Thanksgiving we only got to meet one day. Since it was also surprise week I
decided to surprise them all with the I-Pads and some awesome math games. I
also had some classes that met at different times so they didn’t miss out on
some of their classroom fun that day. So there were surprises all around.
First Grade:
This week we had so much fun
with the I-Pads and sumdog.com. The students really enjoyed practicing their
math facts. I also surprised them with pencils and gonoodle.com and some
dancing to end the class. We also took time to talk about thanksgiving and all
we are thankful for and what plans we have for this holiday.
Next week we will continue to work on the money packet and I will bring in some more change for them to work with. I know they are totally excited about the different activities I have planned.
Second Grade:
On Wednesday we had a blast
playing sumdog.com and practicing our math facts. We got to meet early so we
had some fun with another class too. It was a great time to see the other class
and get to dance with them. Next week we will start a new unit on the Fibonacci
sequence. It will be fun and challenging all at the same time.
Third and Fourth Grade: Math Vocabulary Comic Relief
This year I am starting
something new we will be doing each week on Wednesdays. I have the Math
Vocabulary Comic Relief board. Each week when the students come in on Wednesday
they will go to look at the board and grab their problem. They will have five minutes
to read and solve it. This week was Improper
Fractions. An improper fraction is a fraction where
the numerator (the top number) is greater than or equal to the denominator (the
bottom number). In other words, it is top-heavy.
This week I was sure we
would have some students confused on this one and I was right. Some really took
the time to read all the information on the board before they started the
problem and they were right on track because of it. I did however have a few
that didn’t take the time to read and think before they answered and they had
to go back to the drawing board on theirs. I think these are a great way to
teach the students to take their time and read everything before they come to
an answer. I think it is getting better each week and I know by Holiday break
next month they will all have it down. It was pretty tricky though and I am
very proud of all of them and how well they did.
Third Grade:
This week we had some
students starting 4’s and others finishing up their 3’s. They are all doing a
great job with these and working at their own pace to do their best. During the
rest of the class we had some fun with the I-Pads and math facts. They all got
to play sumdog.com to have some fun. Next week we will continue with Sweet
Multiplication and go back to the multiplication chapter and start where we
left off.
Fourth Grade:
This week the students were
ready for some fun activities and we got right to it after the comic math
relief. They all got the opportunity to use the I-Pads to practice their math
facts on sumdog.com. It was nice to see them all having fun while practicing
math. Next week we will start a new chapter on fractions with some new and very
interesting activities that I am sure they will all like.
Have a Great Thanksgiving Weekend!!
Mrs. Lutterman
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